Filing cabinet drawer locking mechanism



July 8, 1958 D. R. HOWARD FILINGCABINET DRAWER LOCKING MECHANISM 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Feb. 25, 1955 a ll ' INVENTOR.

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ATTORNEY July 8, 1958 D. R. HOWARD FILING CABINET DRAWER LOCKING MECHANISM Filed Feb. 23, 1955 2 SheetsSheet 2 INVENTOR. oumrd Don R. H

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Patented July 8, 1958 FILING CABINET DRAWER LOCKING MECHANISM Don R. Howard, Worcester, Mass., assignor to The Wright Line, Inc., Worcester, Mass., a corporation of Massachusetts Application February 23, 1955, Serial No. 489,934

Claims. (Cl. 312-218) This invention relates to filing cabinets, and more particularly to a cabinet having a set of drawers arranged one above another for holding file cards, letters, papers and the like.

In a cabinet of this general type used for holding file cards, each drawer when fully loaded may weigh 100 pounds or more. Hence, if several loaded drawers are pulled out, there isa danger that the overhanging weight of the cards might tip the cabinet over. It is also required that such drawers be locked shut and preferably that all of the drawers be locked in a closed position by a single locking mechanism.

It is the primary object of this invention to provide a structure which insures that only one drawer may be opened at a time.

A further object is to incorporate a single locking mechanism in the construction Which will serve to lock all of the drawers in a closed position and yet will permit each drawer to be opened separately, provided all other drawers are in the closed position. Further objects will be apparent in the following disclosure.

In accordance with a preferred embodiment of this invention, 1 have provided a cabinet, which has a set of movable drawers arranged either horizontally or in vertical tiers, with a locking mechanism which comprises an abutment associated with each drawer and a set of locking members, preferably movable as a unit, which are movable into and away from positions of engagement with the abutments and thus either preventing or permitting movement of the drawers. Means associated with each drawer serves to move the locking members as a unit into non-locking positions when a drawer is closed. A resiliently urged operating member serves to move the locking members into positions of engaging the abutments of the remaining drawers after one drawer has been opened and thus prevent having more than one drawer open at a time. A releasable lock is also provided which will hold the movable locking members in locking positions and thus serve to lock all of the drawers from being opened.

Referring to the drawings illustrating one embodiment of the invention:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a cabinet having one drawer in an'open position, and with the side broken away to show the operation of the locking mechanisms;

Fig. 2 is a fragmentary plan view of one of the drawers with the cabinet in horizontal section, indicating the positions of the parts when all of the drawers are closed but the key controlled mechanism has not been moved to a locking position;

Fig. 3 is a similar view showing the positions of the parts associated with one of the drawers which has been opened; i 1

Fig. 4 is atsimilarview showing that the remaining closed drawers cannot beopened after the drawer of Fig. 3 has been opened; i

Fig. 5 is a similar detail showing how all of the drawers are locked in the closed position by a single key operated mechanism;

Fig. 6 is an enlarged horizontal sectional detail of the key operated lock mechanism which insures that all of the drawers are held in the closed position;

Fig. 7 is a similar view showing the key lock in an unlocked position; and

Fig. 8 is a vertical sectional detail showing the key lock and related mechanism.

The cabinet 10, as shown in Fig. 1, may comprise a framework and outer walls 11 of standard construction, made preferably of metal, which has a set of vertically or horizontally arranged drawers 12 slidably mounted therein and which may be carried on roller bearing slides in any desired arrangement, as is well understood. Each drawer comprises a front vertical face 13 provided with a suitable handle and sides 14 and bottom 15. One outer wall, such as the side 14, of each drawer is provided with a locking abutment 16 which has a face or ledge 17 projecting outwardly from the drawer side and forming an obstruction adapted to be engaged by a pivoted locking lever 18, which thus prevents the drawer from being moved outwardly under certain circumstances. The part 16 is preferably made of a piece of strap metal suitably secured, as by welding, to the side of the drawer. That strap metal is shaped as illustrated to provide the abutment 17 in front and a sloping earn face 20 at the rear which is adapted to release the locking parts when the drawer is closed.

Each drawer has a pivoted locking lever 18 associated therewith, and all of the levers 18 are mounted to move together, as by being fixed to a vertical post 22. This post 22, as shown in Figs. 1 and 8, may be a metal bar of suitable shape mounted on twopairs of spaced hinged lugs 23 arranged near its top and bottom. Each pair of binge lugs is mounted on a hinge pin 24 carried by spaced eyelets 25 which project from a hinge plate 26 suitably secured, as by welding, to a vertical portion of the frame Work near the front corner of the cabinet 10. The looking bars 18 project laterally or horizontally from the pivotally mounted vertical post 22. These memberslS may be flat steel bars suitably welded to the side of the iron post 22 and held in parallelism thereby. The locking bars 18 are so positioned on the vertical bar 22 that each may be swung into position to engage the vertical ledge 17 of the abutment plate 16 on an associated drawer.

The locking bars 18 are urged toward locking positions against the side walls 14 of the drawers and in front of the abutrnents 17 by means of resiliently urged levers 28. The set of levers 18 carried by the post 22 are urged towards the pivoted levers 28 by a coiled wire spring 29 (Fig. 8) having its free ends located respectively against the side of the post 22 and the face of the hinge plate 26. These springs 29 thus urge the bars 18 away from a locking position, as indicated in Fig. 2. Opposite each one of the swinging levers 18 is the separately mounted swinging lever 28, each being carried by a suitable strap hinge 30 mounted on a Z-shaped bar 31 secured to the side wall 11 of the casing. A coiled spring 32 under compression is suitably mounted between each swinging lever 28 and the casing wall and arranged to urge the lever 28 forward towards the side 14 of the drawer. Each lever 28 is bent at its outer free end to form a step 33 which is arranged to project under and engage the outer free end of the associated locking bar 18 for moving the same.

The side face of each lever 28 is held by its spring 32 in engagement wtih the side of the locking cam lug 16 when the drawer is closed, as shown in Fig. 2; but when the drawer has been opened (Fig. 3), and the cam lug has been removed, the spring 32 thrusts the lever 28 laterally and it in turn forces the associated locking lever 18 to the position of Fig. 3. For this purpose, the spring 32 is made much stronger than the spring 29. Since all of the levers 18 are rigidly secured to the vertical post 22, then the one spring 32 related to the drawer that has been opened (Fig. 3) will swing the post 22 and all of its levers 18 into that locking position and hold them there. Thus, all of the closed drawers (Fig. 4) cannot be opened when the several levers 18 are swung forward into locking positions. If now the drawer of Fig. 3 be closed to the position of Fig. 2, the cam face 20 of the strap 16 rides along the face of the adjacent lever 18 and thrusts it back, and this in turn because of its engagement with the step 33 forces the lever 28 back against the eifort of its spring 32. Thus, the set of locking levers 18 are all swung simultaneously to the position of Fig. 2, and any one of the drawers may be moved outwardly because the locking levers 18 are out of the way of the lug faces 17. However, as soon as one of the drawers has been opened, then the stronger spring 32 (Fig. 3) again thrusts the lever 28 laterally and forces its associated locking lever 18 into a locking position, and all .of the parallel levers 18 are held in parallelism in the path of movement of each lug 17 of the associated drawer. opened at a time.

Provision is also made for'locking all of the drawers closed by one single operating lock, as shown in Figs. 6 to 8. This lock may comprise a standard type of key operated rotary barrel 40 mounted in a slidable body 41, which in turn is mounted in a suitably shaped sleeve 42 carried by the casing. The barrel 40 is adpted to be rotated by a suitable key 44 applied thereto. Slidably mounted at the inner end of that barrel is a locking lug 46 which is spring urged toward an inward locking position, as shown in Fig. 6, when the body 41 is shoved inwardly by manual pressure. This spring pressed lug 46 in its locking position engages the inner end of the casing 42 which carries the sliding body 41 and thus holds the body 41 locked in place. The lug 46 may be withdrawn from that locking position by use of the key 44. The details of the lock may be of standard construction and need not be specifically illustrated and described.

One feature of the present invention lies in the fact that the sliding body 41 (Fig. 7) may be moved rearwardly, by pushing on its outer projecting part, into the rearward position of Fig. 6 where it engages the adjacent face of the pivotally mounted post 22 and swings it and its parallel locking levers 18 into the locking positions of Figs. and 6. Thus, all of the levers 18 are held inwardly, and no drawer can be opened. If desired, each of the levers 18 may be made of resilient steel or spring mounted on the post 22, so that if any of the drawers should happen to be partway out when the lock is applied, the drawer and its cam 20 may be pushed back into place. When the cabinet is to be unlocked, then by turning the key and the barrel 4t) and withdrawing the laterally projecting lug 46, the body 41 is suitably moved outwardly as by means of a spring, such as the tension spring 48 diagrammatically illustrated as connected between a lug 49 on the slidable body 41 and a clip 50 on the inner face of the casing. This spring 48, when the locking lug 46 has been drawn back into the barrel, will thrust the body 41 outwardly to the position of Fig. 7 and release the post 22 and permit opening the drawers.

The operation of the device has been made apparent in the above disclosure. When all of the drawers are closed and locked by bolt-41 which holds the swinging arms 18 in the position of Figs. 5 and 6, no drawer can be moved, because each one of the locking levers 18 is held in the path of outward movement of the shoulder 17 of the locking lug 16. When the lock bolt 41 has been Thus, only one drawer can be released to the position of Figs. 2 and 7 and it is away from contact with the swinging bar 22, then the levers 18 are free for pivotal movement. The drawers at that time are in the unlocked position of Fig. 2 and each locking lever 18 is held by its spring 29 against the ledge 33 of the spring urged lever 28. Each separately mounted lever 28 is urged by its spring 32 to swing laterally to the position of Fig. 3, but it is restrained by the associated cam face 20 on the side of the drawer. Since the levers 18 are urged as a unit toward the separately mounted levers 28, then all of the levers are out of the path of movement of the locking shoulder 17 on the side of the drawer, and any one of the drawers may be opened. However, as soon as that drawer has been opened to the position of Fig. 3, then the strong spring 32 swings the individually mounted lever 28 toward the drawer and carries the associated locking lever 18 with it. This serves to swing the post 22 and all of the levers 18 to the position of Figs. 3 and 4, so that no other drawer may be drawn out until the open drawer of Fig. 3 has been returned to a closed position. As soon as that is done, then the parallel levers 18 are swung back together to the position of Fig. 2 and any drawer may now be opened. When it is desired to lock all of the drawers of the cabinet, then it is merely necessary to push in the sliding lock body 41 and allow its spring pressed locking lug 46 to take the position of Fig. 6 and prevent an outward movement of that body 41 until the lug 46 has been released by the key rotated barrel 40. In that inner position of Fig. 6, the body 41 has swung the post 22 and moved all of the locking levers 18 into the path of movement of each of the drawer abutments 17 and no drawer may be opened.

It will be appreciated that various modifications and constructions may be made to embody the principles of this invention, and in particular to provide a set of locking members which are automatically positioned by closing all of the drawers to permit only one drawer to be opened at a time and which may be locked to operate as a unit for preventing opening any of the drawers. Hence, the above disclosure is 'to be interpreted as setting forth the principles of this invention and not as imposing limitations on the claims.

I claim:

1. A filing cabinet comprising a framework, a set of drawers slidably mounted therein, an abutment associated with each drawer, a set of locking members pivotally movable into and out of positions of engagement with the abutments to prevent opening the drawers, a bar connecting said members so that they move as a unit, means including a cam associated with each drawer which serves when every drawer is closed to swing all of the locking members away from the abutments and permit opening any drawer, and a separate, resiliently urged means associated with each drawer which serves when any one drawerv is opened to swing all of the locking members to positions of preventing opening the remaining drawers.

2. A filing cabinet comprising a framework, a set of drawers slidably mounted therein, an abutment on each drawer, a cam associated with each abutment, a set of locking levers pivotally mounted on the framework to swing into and away from the paths of the abutments, a bar connecting the levers so that they swing as a unit, a separate, resiliently urged, pivotally mounted operating lever on the framework opposite each cam on a drawer which is arranged, when any cam is removed by opening the associated drawer, to engage an associated locking lever and swing the locking levers as a unit into the paths of the abutments and prevent opening movement of the associated drawers, said cams being located to swing the operating levers away from said drawers to prevent their moving the locking levers when all of the drawers are closed.

3. A filing cabinet comprising a framework, a set of drawers slidably mounted therein, an abutment on each drawer, a set of locking levers movable to and from positions of engaging the abuLments, a pivotally mounted post which connects the levers for movement as a unit, a manually releasable lock arranged to prevent movement of the post and levers and hold the levers against the abutments and prevent opening the drawers, a separate resiliently urged operating member arranged, when not restrained, to engage and move each associated locking lever and swing all of the levers into abutment engaging positions, a cam on each drawer which serves to restrain said operating member when the drawer is closed, and resilient means to move the post and its locking levers away from abutment engaging positions when released by the operating members.

4. A filing cabinet comprising a framework, a set of drawers slidably mounted therein, an abutment on each drawer, a set of pivoted locking levers connected to move as a unit to and from a position of engaging the abutments, a cam on each drawer, a separate operating lever pivotally mounted on the framework opposite each cam and movable thereby and engageable with an associated locking lever, a strong spring which urges each operating lever, when released, to swing the pivoted levers as a unit towards the abutments, and a spring which is weaker than said strong spring which urges the locking levers away from the abutments and towards their associated operating levers, said cam on each drawer being engageable with the operating lever when the drawer is closed to prevent the operating lever from swinging the locking levers so that said weaker spring urges the levers away from locking relationship with the drawer abutments, and any of said operating levers serving to swing all of the locking levers towards the abutments when an associated cam is removed by opening the drawer.

5. A cabinet according to claim 4 comprising a bar rigidly connected to and rotatively movable with the locking levers, and a releasable lock including a body which is manually slidable into engagement with said bar for holding the locking levers in abutment engaging positions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,006,983 Schafiert Oct. 24, 1911 1,909,848 Rand May 16, 1933 2,240,067 Bolesky Apr. 29, 1941 2,564,039 Thomas Aug. 14, 1951 2,653,070 Mc Clellan Sept. 22, 1953 

